Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-04-18

OEHbs III thO ehShS ahS
two forms, and in the Speller
there are four and half, or, say, five
forms. Now the large presses got to ex.
pressly print the school books can only
lucn off about 5000 sheets day, printed
ON both sides. That would require, in
order to duplicate the present editions of
the readers and speller. 100 days of con.
slant presswork, and II we take the time
to prepare the forms, especially
for the Readers containing cuts, it will
take altogether about 125 days to dupli.
cate the present edition. Now, if you
are going to get out large editions of the
Arithmetic, History, etc., before you
print any more Readers, are you not
liable to find yourself in hole when
the demand comes for next years
supply?"
81 think not. You see, the mistake
is to take the number of school children
in the State as the basis to figure upon
the number of books that will be re.
quired. There are 100000 enrolled.
But half of these, perhaps, do not at
terd school at all, or irregularly. Then
they do not all require the whole series.
Indeed. but fraction require each of
the books, so that l believe it will be
found that we shall have ample time to
get out another edition when it is
wanted
II greatly doubt it. You cannot
count with mathematical precision upon
the time required to get out an edition.
and the number Of school children is in.
creasing very rapidly. Besides, the State
would take no risk in having large
supply of the books in stock, for, being
the permanent text books of the schools,
there is no danger that they will be left
on its hands. l see also that there was
some astonishment expressed by COM
mittee that visited the State B:ndery to
find that Superintendent Ayers had made
10000 more cases, or covers, than
books had been ordered"
"Yes, committee of the Knights of
Labor dug this fact up, and it seemed to
be treated as an astonishing discovery, !"
''It couldn't have been much of dis
covery. Here is Ayers's supplemental
report to Governor Bartlett, in which
the details of all the work done is set
forth, and the fact that these covers
were prepared and ready for the books
is there clearly stated"
"That's SO. But there was some ex-
ception taken to his anticipating the
work"
"Well, he says that it was in the in
terest of economy to work up the cover
stock when the force was organized aud
in fast working order. The fact is, the
State Board never made up its mind as to
the size of an edition until the books
were printed. The State printer had to
use his own judgment as to the number
of copies he would print, and it so hap.
pened that twice the number of sheets
were printed for the Third Reader that
were found on the order when the board
finally made up its mind as to the num-
ber required. The State Board is awk-
wardly constituted. Each member has
official business of his own to attend to,
and the meetings were sometimes one
and two months apart. The plates
would be ready for the press, and the
State printer had either to use his own
Judgment as to the number to print, or
stop the whole work to wait for the next
meeting of the Board. He took no risk
in making up the covers, for if they
were not required for the first edition
they would be for the second"
"That is true. But the complaints
about keeping the presses idle will now
be met. The new work will soon go on,
and as you say, / seeno reason why they
will not have all they can do to keep up
with the demand that we shall have for
the new books and for the second edi.
tion of the Readers"
"Do you think that the new law au.
thorizing the sale of the textbooks to re-
tail dealers throughout the State will
work well?"
II think it will. The public interests
are well guarded in it. The retailer is
required to file bond that he will not
sell the books outside the State, and to
only ask the legal price, that is the cost
of the books as fixed by the State Board
of Education, with the addition of the
postal charges. His profit will be in
getting the books by freight aud charg.
ing for them as if they had been sent
through the mails. 1t costs twelve
cents to mail the Third Reader. The
price of the book at Sacramento is forty
cents. That would bring 1T up to fifty
two. But, as the Board has made i've
cents the unit in fixing the prices, that
would enable the dealer to sell at fifty.
five cents, thus giving him satisfactory
margin of profit. Besides, the new law
provides that the money received for
text books shall go into a special re.
volving fund, which can be drawn upon
as the State Printer needs it. So that
when the system gets fairly going there
will be enough money coming in
from the sale of the books to keep
the work going without drawing from
the General Fund. Thus the work will
be made to pay for itself and cost the
State nothing in the end, for included in
the cost of the books is also the value of
the plant of machinery, presses, etc.,
purchased by the State to place the
work in operation. The State will not
be out dollar in the end"
"Yes; that was the intention of the
law The expenditures have been nee.
essarily large to start this great enter.
prise, and people who did not know all
the facts as to the way in which it was
TO be carried out, thought that the
State would be permanently out all the
money spent"
THAT is great mistake. The more
see into the operation of this textbook
printing by the State, the more I am
'atistied it is going to be one of the
greatest boons ever conferred ON a peo.
Die. There has been an effort made in
certain quarters to prejudice the people
.gainst me by charging me to be an en-.
,my of the plan. This is a cruel libel
am heart and soul in sympathy with |
t, and 1 shall do all in my power to
make it complete success. 1 have
been schoolbook agent myself, and 1
know how the people have been cinched
how they have had to pay from 60 to
IS cents for book that could be manu-.
,actured for from 20 to 25 cents; and,
knowing this, appreciate the value to
The people of this great public under.
,aking, and will do everything in ny
power, both as an official and private
,itizen IN saonra for tho ob;ldra, of IL,